Month: August 2017

One way to help students begin thinking about what "Big Questions" they will pursue for their Genius Hour projects and the products they will create as a result, is by encouraging them to move in the direction of their "why." Last year, our college counselors showed the following TEDx presentation to my sophomores with author, … Continue reading Genius Hour: Know Your Why

If you have been looking for an easy, privacy-ensuring way to quickly communicate via text message with your students and/or their parents, Remind is a perfect tool to do so. Merely open a free account, create classes for each of the periods you teach, and Remind will generate a code for each class. You can … Continue reading Remind

Summer break provides the perfect opportunity for rest, relaxation, and reflection. In addition to spending more quality time with family and friends, I consistently engage in my own professional development by finding books, webinars, or conferences which will help me better prepare my students for life beyond high school. I mentioned in this post that … Continue reading Genius Hour: A Poll

Since 2013, over 11 million of us have viewed Angela Duckworth's TED Talk entitled "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance." While her teaching experience and graduate research were indeed fascinating and resonated with quite a few, I couldn't help but think her findings were merely echoes of ancient wisdom reborn for a newer and … Continue reading Grit: Ancient Wisdom

Sir Ken Robinson delivered a TED Talk in 2006, "Are Schools Killing Creativity?" which has been their most viewed talk to date with 25 million of us viewing it online. In 2013, he recorded the following 45-minute podcast for On Point entitled, "On Discovering Your Passions," which could be a helpful resource for teachers, guidance … Continue reading Sir Ken Robinson Podcast

Canva is an excellent design tool for any and all creative projects. Whether you need to create a blog title, Twitter header, resume, presentation template, or Venn diagram, they have it all--and it's free! Merely go to the website, create an account, find a template you like or choose a generic layout, and start designing. … Continue reading Canva